キンドル・ダイレクト・パブリッシング Kindle Direct Publishing 簡単に電子本を出版
キンドル・ダイレクト・パブリッシング(KDP)の基本的なやり方
先日私の4冊目の e-book がキンドルで発売されることになりました。
2016年の岐阜県図書館の市民講座(講師:藤掛庄市先生)で最初の自己出版をして以来ほぼ一年に一冊のペースで出版してきたことになります。
4年の間に、KDPの手順やツールなども大きく変化しました。
前回のブログでは私の二作目のKDPの際の手順をまとめてみましたが、あれから二年、今回出版した「Hananoki Villege and The Thieves 花のき村と盗人たち」では、以前とくらべはるかに簡単になりました。
ただ、いくら簡単になったとはいえ、初めての方にはハードルが高く感じるかもしれません。今日は、自分のための備忘録とすると同時に、そんな方たちに少しでもヒントになればと思い、ここにまとめておこうと思いました。以下は私がやった方法であり、パソコン環境等により同じようにいかない場合もあるかもしれませんが、参考にしていただければと思います。
KDPの手順
KDPの公式ページには次のように書かれています。
1.原稿(本の中身)を作る
google document というのをご存知でしょうか?
原稿は google document という google が無料で提供しているアプリを使って書きます。google アカウントさえ持っていれば誰でも使えます。このアプリは word とほぼ同じ機能を持っており、編集したものはすべてクラウドで保存されるため、いつでもどの端末(スマホやタブレットを含みます。)でもアクセスでき、確認したり編集したりできるので本当に便利です。編集したものはいちいち保存しなくても、その都度勝手にクラウドに保存していってくれるので、 編集していてパソコンがクラッシュしてすべて消えてしまうといった悲劇は起こりません。また、もし共同編集者がいる場合にも、document を「共有」することができるので、複数人で編集することもできます。
google document で原稿を作る際、文字のフォントや色付け、フォントサイズなど、見栄えよく、読みやすくしてください。本になったとき、そのまま反映されます。
また画像も挿入できます。画像は「挿入」のところから、PC内に保存してある写真ファイルなどを選択して挿入します。挿入した画像の上でクリックするとその画像が選択されて、サイズも自由に変えることができます。画像の配置も右寄せ、センタリング、左寄せなどができます。
原稿が書けたら、保存します。
「ファイル」から「形式を指定してダウンロード」→「Epub Publication (.epub)」を選んでください。
2.本の表紙を作る
表紙は、原稿とは別でアップロードするため、別で作ります。
これも google の「プレゼンテーション」というアプリで作ります。google document と同様誰でも無料で使える「パワーポイント」と似た機能をもったツールです。
google document の「新規作成」というところをクリックすると、「プレゼンテーション」が選択肢に出てくるので、そこから開くことができます。
まず「ファイル」から「ページ設定」をクリックし、「ワイドスクリーン」になっているところを「カスタム」にしてください。そして「42.3センチ×67.7センチ」に設定してください。(この数値は経験値です。他のサイズでもできるかもしれません。)
あとは、メインタイトル、サブタイトル、著者名等の情報と画像を配置していきます。画像は「挿入」から入れます。本の地色も「背景色」で変えることができます。
できあがったら、保存します。保存は「形式を指定してダウンロード」をクリックし、「jpeg画像」を指定してください。
3.Kindle Previewer 3 (キンドル・プレビューアー)で出来上がりの確認をすると共に出版用の原稿ファイルに変換する。
Kindle Previewer という無料のデスクトップ アプリを使えば、書式設定した本が思っていたとおりに表示されるかどうかを確認できます。
こちらのページからダウンロードできます。
Kindle Direct Publishing Kindle Previewer
このアプリを開いて、document で先ほど作った原稿ファイルを ドラッグアンドドロップするだけで本の形式になった出来上がり見本を見ることができます。作った原稿ファイル(epub形式)が kindle 形式に変換されます。少し時間がかかります。
実際の e-book の出来上がりイメージになるので少し感動します。
ここで少し満足してしまいますが、細かいところを確認して修正が必要なところは原稿を直してからまたプレビューアーにかけるというのを繰り返ししっかりチェックをします。
これでよし、となったらその原稿を Kindle Previewer 3で保存します。
この保存したファイルをKDPで原稿としてアップロードします。
4.KDPにサインインし、「本の新規作成」をクリックすると情報入力画面が出ますので、必要ヶ所に全部入力していきます。
原稿と表紙もそれぞれアップロードします。原稿のアップロードには少し時間がかかります。
原稿と表紙がアップロードできたら、プレビューを確認します。上の Kindle Previewer でもチェックはしましたが、ここが最終確認です。もしここで要修正点を見つけたら、いさぎよく google document に戻ってやり直します。
必要事項を全部入力したら、「Kindle 本を出版」をクリックします。
これですべて終わりです。
詳しいことはKDPの公式ページをご覧ください。
このあと、担当の人が本を審査し、その結果がメールに届きます。早ければ一日以内に返事が返ってきます。
本に問題(たとえば著作権の問題など)があると、それもメールで返事がきます。
うまく承認されれば即出版です。もうあなたの本はKindle Store の本だなに並んでいますよ。
ヒント1
さて、私が出した本は、文字(テキスト)が多い読み物的な本でした。このような本は読者が画面を拡大したりして読むのに適した「リフロー形式」にするのがよいです。
(ただし、画像などの配置は読者が使用する端末によって変わってしまうことがあります。)この「リフロー形式」で出版するためには上で説明した Kindle Previewer 3 を使います。
しかし、画像を多く使った本で、テキストと画像の位置関係などを固定したい場合は「固定レイアウト」という方法を選んだほうがよいでしょう。
その場合、プレビューアーは先ほどの Kindle Previewer 3ではなく、Kindle Kids' Book Creator を使います。Kindle Kids' Book Creator は、児童書のみならず、イラストや写真を多用した本などを作成する際に役立つツールです。
こちらからダウンロードできます。Kindle Kid's Book Creator
(現在サポートは英語のみです。)
ヒント2
何度も確認してから出版しても、後から誤字脱字などが見つかることがあります。
そういう場合は、KDPのマイページの本棚にある該当本の右端にある「…」三点のメニューから「コンテンツを編集」というのをクリックし、訂正した原稿を改めてアップロードし直します。このメニューは本が出版されてからしか現れません。(出版申請後、まだ審査中の場合はできません。出版が成功したあとでならできます。)
以上、私の経験から書いてきました。
私が出版した本と異なるタイプの本を出版しようとされている方には参考になるかどうかわかりませんが、ちょっとしたヒントになればと思います。
では楽しい出版生活を!
キンドルダイレクトパブリッシィングの基本的なやり方(初心者向け)
・太字 **My Life** とすると太字になる。
・太字イタリック ***My Life*** とすると、太字のイタリックになる。
・センタリング <p class="text-center" markdown="1">**My Life**</p>
のようにすると、My Life が太字になって、中央に表示される。
・ <p class="text-center" markdown="1">**<font color="Blue">School uilding</font>**</p> とすれば、青字の太字になって、中央に表示される。
My Healthy Food
I don’t spend much money on junk food, and I don’t buy canned or bottled drinks from bending machine, either, because I know that these junk food is not only harmful to our health, but also it can stick to our teeth and harm them.
Many soft drinks are just a solution of sugar and water. I rarely drink carbonated soft drinks, either, but I sometimes drink sports drinks when I sweat a lot.
A sports drink is designed specifically to replace the body salts lost during prolonged periods of intense athletic exercise.
The most widely used kind of all food additives is food coloring. Food manufacturers use colorings to make them more colorful and appealing.
Food manufacturers use preservatives to keep them from spoiling. I can’t believe that they are not concerned whether those additives are healthy or not.
Today food additives are presently the center of a storm of controversy in many developed countries including Japan.
I know some substances which have been proved unsafe or potentially unsafe have been taken off the market. Cyclamate (cyclo) is one of them.
In Japan, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare regulates food additives. I didn’t know that additives are subjected to extensive testing before they can be placed on the market.
There is a pessimistic view that young generation who has been fed lots of junk food polluted with many kind of additives will not live long. I don’t know if that is right or not, but the possibility can’t be completely denied.
Healthy snacks and drinks have little salt and sugar and other additives.
Now I know many things about harmful foods, I should be cautious not to eat much junk food and drinks.
As a housewife, I’m very concerned about the health of my family.
I’m also concerned about my own health.
My blood pressure is 120 over 80. This is normal level for a middle aged woman. The normal range of blood pressure is under [140 over 90]. The blood pressure over this line is called hypertension.
Since I am a nurse, I know that most people affected by high blood pressure have no symptoms. But high blood pressure has been termed “the silent killer”. It has been well proven that the risk lies in the long term damage the ailment can cause to their heart, blood vessels, and kidneys, causing problems that can lead them to early death.
I didn’t ask for the health record and the family history of my husband when I was going to marry him. It was a bit awkward to ask for such kind of things to one’s future spouse that time. But I recommend young people to exchange their own health records before they get married. It’s a good and important first step for your marriage life.
My parents’ marriage was an arranged match by a go-between. Arranged match was quite common in my parents’ time.
Both of my paternal and maternal grandfather died of strokes. My husband has a slight high blood pressure. He had taken medicine before. But now his blood pressure is almost okay.
People whose parents have high blood pressure are more likely to develop it than those whose parents don’t.
High blood pressure is not a fatal disease but a manageable risk with a good diet, life habits, especially eating habit.
The main cause of high blood pressure is high-sodium and high-fat diet.
If you take a good care of your diet, you can lower your blood pressure to a normal level.
Although my eating habit is not always good, and I sometimes buy processed foods and eat out when I don’t feel like cooking, I usually try to be careful about the food I prepare for my family.
As for me, I don’t much care for fatty food and canned drinks. My husband doesn’t like such foods, either. I’m taking care to eat low-fat foods for my husband.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, soybeans, pumpkins, salmon, and mackerel are high in potassium. Potassium helps to excrete more sodium from kidneys, in effect reducing the sodium in the blood vessels.
I always try to eat raw vegetables for our health. Raw vegetables keep most of their nutrients. Fruits, such as apples, peaches, and bananas are high in potassium, too.
I like foods strongly flavored with soy sauce and sugar. So I have to be more careful not to add too much sodium to my cookings.
I sometimes find the food served at the restaurants is strongly flavored.
My mother used to cook strongly flavored foods. I think that’s why I’m accustomed to strongly flavored foods.
Another factor that affects the blood pressure is weight. Excess weight is not only one of the causes of high blood pressure, but it also causes many other diseases.
I think my weight is within the normal range. I have a bathroom scale and weigh myself after a bath once a week.
My parents have already passed away. Both of them died of cancer and my husband’s father has died of cancer, too. My husband’s mother is doing well, but she has high blood pressure.
I wish her healthy longevity. She lives with my husband’s brother’s family. She is lucky because my husband’s sister in law is good at cooking and has good health management consciousness. She is taking a good care of their diet. So my husband and I can rely on her.
My Favorite Food
I like Japanese food very much. My favorite Japanese food is Sashimi and Shabu-shabu. But they are too expensive to eat everyday.
I like udon very much. I like tanuki-udon very much. I also like tanuki-soba. And I like kitsune-udon/soba also. Tanuki udon(soba) is a bowl of udon(soba) in hot soup with tenkasu (crunchy bits of deep fried tempura batter), and kitsune udon/soba is topped with seasoned deep-fried bean curd. Tanuki means raccoon dogs and kitsune means foxes. But I heard, they call kitsune-soba tanuki in Kansai area. I don’t know why, it’s confusing.
I sometimes eat ramen, too. I don’t eat instant ramen very often. I like cooking ramen myself.
I can cook udon, soba, and ramen by myself. It’s easy. I try to prepare as many kinds of toppings as I can.
Our family like aka-miso for miso-soup. I make miso-soup almost everyday in winter. In summer, I hate cooking and eating hot meals. So I rarely make miso-soup. Many Japanese people eat miso-soup for breakfast, but our family eat bread and milk for breakfast, so I make miso-soup only for dinner.
Until a few decades ago, many of Japanese people took it granted that men work to provide for their family while their wives stay home and manage the household. But now more and more women want full-time jobs, and choose to be working wives. Women are likely to expect greater mutuality and companionship in marriage.
I do expect greater mutuality and companionship in marriage, too.
I think these changes will effectively alter the Japanese perception that homemaking and child care are primary a woman’s responsibility.
I agree to the idea that men will also have to be responsible for homemaking and child care.
My father didn’t do any housekeeping work. I think he was a typical Japanese husband.
When I was young, I often helped my mother cook.
When I raised my children, I always told them to do dishes themselves when they have time.
Now I live only with my husband, I usually do the dishes, but my husband does the dishes very often, too.
When my family has sukiyaki, I prepare it. My family’s sukiyaki cooking is inherited from my mother.
The first thing I attend to when I prepare sukiyaki is to go to the supermarket and get good beef. The best beef for sukiyaki is so called shimofuri-niku, that is well-marbled beef with thin streaks of fat. Other than that, I add leeks, noodles made from konnyaku, grilled tofu, kamaboko( boiled fish paste), Chinese cabbage, and shiitake-mushrooms.
I sprinkle the meat with a little sugar, and at the same time I sprinkle the ingredients with a small cup of sake. Then I pour in soy sauce.
When I smell the good smell of the meat being sauteed in the soy sauce, I can’t wait any more.
When I eat sukiyaki, I put a raw egg in a bowl, beat it and dip the ingredients in it.
I cook udon in the remaining thick broth.
I didn’t know many Americans do not like sugar because they think sugar will make them fatter, even though they love sweet cakes and other sweets as long as they can’t see the sugar in spite of the fact these sweets contain lots of sugar.
As for raw eggs, Americans simply don’t have the habit of eating raw eggs.
It’s possible to cook sukiyaki without sugar in case you have American guests. You can get pre-sweetened soy sauce at the supermarket.
Many people think that Americans and Europeans hate eating raw fish. But it’s not true. Today many western people do love sushi. I think they just didn't have the habit of eating raw fish like raw eggs.
My husband and I occasionally go to sushi bar. I mean, kaiten-zushi.
When we go to a sushi bar, we usually sit at the bar table.
My favorite toppings are squid, tuna, salmon, and yellowtail.
I have temakizushi, hand-rolled sushi at home. I prepare some sashimi, tamago-yaki, kani-kama, cucumber, ooba, etc. for the fillings.
I hadn’t thought curry rice was a Japanese dish.
I didn’t know that curry rice originated in Japan, and it was a Japanese invention.
Curry powder was brought to Japan at the end of Edo period.
Curry rice began to be served in Japanese restaurants in the late Meiji period.
The Japanese version of curry roux was developed and began to be sold in prepackaged blocks for easy preparation. Since then, Japanese housewives started to cook curry rice at home.
I liked my mother’s curry rice since my early childhood.
My Childhood
I'm not going to reveal my exact birth year here but I was born in a year of the middle of Showa era. ( Showa starts in 1926 and ends in 1986.)
Do you believe in fortune-telling?
Chinese zodiac is one of the fortune-tellings popular among Japanese people.
My Chinese zodiac sign is Pig.
According to the Chinese zodiac, Pigs are diligent, compassionate, and generous. They have great concentration: once they set a goal, they will devote all their energy to achieving it. Though Pigs rarely seek help from others, they will not refuse to give others a hand. Pigs never suspect trickery, so they are easily fooled.
General speaking, Pigs are relatively calm when facing trouble. No matter how difficult the problems are Pigs encounter, they can handle things properly and carefully. They have a great sense of responsibility to finish what they are engaged in.
I do think I have many of those personality traits.
I was born at my mom’s mother’s house in a rural village in Gifu city.
I heard that my mom had an easy delivery when she gave birth to me.
It was a normal delivery.
A pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks.
According to the current World Health Organization definition of prematurity, a premature delivery is a delivery before 37 weeks of gestation, counting from the first day of the Last Menstrual Period (the LMP).
My parents had some rice fields and vegetable fields that they had taken over from the ancestors, so my mother had to work on them until the delivery day.
As she was working at home, she couldn’t get any maternity leave or infant-care leave.
She also had to take care of her children by herself.
There is a difference between a day-care center and a kindergarten. Most of the day-care centers are operated by municipalities while more than half of the kindergartens are privately run. Kindergartens are supervised by the Ministry of Education and classified as educational institutions for children of age 3 to 5 under the Educational Law, while day-care centers are under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and classified as welfare institutions under the Child Welfare Law.
As for me, I attended a kindergarten.
It was a private kindergarten.
I started to go to the kindergarten at the age of five.
My parents enrolled me in the kindergarten because most of the children in our community went to that kindergarten.
The kindergarten was about 7 kilometers far from my house.
I went there by the kindergarten-bus.
There were many young teachers in the kindergarten and some middle aged teachers as well.
Most of my kindergarten teachers wore smock.
I’ve never wetted my pants while I was in kindergarten.
I could use the toilet well when I entered the kindergarten, because I was five years old already at that time.
My mother trained me how to use the toilet.
We didn’t have a nap time at our kindergarten. I think kindergartens usually don’t have a nap time.
There were various kinds of play equipment on the playground, for instance, sandbox, swings, slide, jungle-gym, seesaw, and so on.
The sandbox was always crowded. I liked building tunnels, rivers, and mountains in the sandbox.
I also liked swinging on the swing. I liked swinging high. It was so exciting.
I was good at jumping rope, too.
I liked playing tag, hide-and-seek as well.
Origami was very popular among the girls.
I learned how to make origami. I made cranes, yakko-san, purses, and many other things.
When it was rainy, we played indoors. I liked drawing. I was good at drawing cute girls.
When it snowed, we played snow fight. That was so much fun.
I also build snowmen. I used some pebbles or the red fruits of Nanten for the eyes, and twigs for the nose and mouth of the snowman's face.
I went on the field trips with my teacher and friends.
My teacher was very nice, so I think I’ve never been scolded by my teacher.
I remember the recital of music by the pupils most clearly. I played the xylophone. I practiced playing the xylophone very hard and was able to perform perfectly that day.
I think kindergarten was fun. I enjoyed the commuting time to the kindergarten by bus everyday.
Unfortunately, I don’t keep in contact with my kindergarten teachers. I wonder if they are doing well.
I didn’t play with my parents very often in my childhood. They were busy all the time, so I played with my sister and my neighbor friends.
I think fathers should be granted a paternity leave to help their wives rear their children.
I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when I was small. I like children.
I wish I could return to those days when I was innocent and had no worries.
I don’t think Japanese children today are happier than children in other countries.
Japanese children today are too busy. And there are few safe places for them to play in.
I don’t think today’s competitive and distrustful society is not good for children.
My Case of Flu
One winter morning, when I woke up, I felt my throat scratchy.
I couldn’t help coughing.
And I had a runny nose. I also felt very chilly.
I took my temperature and it turned out that I had a high fever of 38.5 degrees.
I hurried back to bed and fell asleep again.
When I woke up at around noon, I felt I was getting worse.
I felt very weak.
It was when I was in the first year in high school.
That time, a bad case of flu was going around and many of my classmates were absent from school. So I thought I got the flu, too.
It took about three whole days to get over the flu.
I didn’t have a good appetite while I had the flu.
My mother fixed a bowl of rice gruel, okayu in Japanese, a few salty pickled plums, umeboshi, and some pieces of canned peach for me.
I didn’t have much appetite, but I tried to eat what were nutritious and easy to digest, because I needed the energy to get rid of the flu.
When you have the flu, you need a plenty of liquids. So I tried to drink as much liquid as possible. I drank a plenty of Pokari-sweat. (a kind of isotonic beverage that is very popular in Japan)
The temperature reached a new high every time I took it.
As far as I remember, I didn’t go see a doctor that time.
I guess my mom thought I could recover without consulting a doctor.
It was a story in 70’s. At that time, people didn’t always go to the doctors when they got sick.
My mom gave me some OTC antipyretic and general cold medicine.
My temperature started to go down in three days.
I think I should take care not to develop pneumonia when I have a bad case of the flu.
When a bad case of flu is going around, I try to wear a surgical mask when I have to go out in a crowded place. And I wash my hands and gargle when I come back home.
I think the best remedy for the flu or a cold is prevention.
I think taking appropriate precautions such as washing hands, gargling, taking good nutritions and sleep, regular life, and lastly getting a flu shot are very important not to catch the flu or a cold.
My Visit To Dentist
The first and the severest toothache I’ve ever experienced in my life was the ache of wisdom teeth when I was 20 or so. The second severest toothache occuered about a half year ago. I had a terrible ache of my tooth root which I had already got treated in my youth. I went to see a dentist, and have it treated.
It took me pretty long time to have the bad tooth completely treated. I attended the dentist for about a half year. Now it’s alright thanks to the dentist.
As my dentist checked up all the rest of my teeth at that time, I don’t have any decayed teeth now.
As for wisdom teeth, I had them removed when I was young, I don’t have any wisdom teeth now.
Wisdom tooth is called Oyashirazu in Japanese. It’s because wisdom teeth come in in one’s early adulthood, sometimes after his/her parents have passed away in the times the people had a shorter life expectancy.
There is another name of the wisdom teeth in Japanese. It’s Chishi (智歯 in Kanji ). The 智 also means “wisdom”. It’s really interesting that both Japanese people and American people call the teeth the same way. I’m not sure why the teeth are called “wisdom” teeth. But I guess that it’s because one will become smarter by the time the teeth come in.
These years I go to the dentist once in three months to have my teeth cleaned and checked up. When I was a child, I didn’t often visited a dentist. My mother was not willing to take me to the dentist to have my teeth checked up. In those days, most parents were very busy to do their work and had little interest in the health of their children’s teeth.
On the occasion of dental check in my elementary or junior high school days, I had few decayed teeth but some plaque was pointed out. I think that was because I had not brushed my teeth very well. Now I know the importance of brushing teeth, I try to brush my teeth completely at least two times a day.
I totally agree that having good healthy teeth is necessary for having good health.
As I mentioned earlier, my last visit to the dentist was the end of last year. I felt a pain in my right upper gum.
First, I went to the receptionist and gave her my insurance card.
It was my first visit to that dentist, so I had to pay a fee for the first visit. I don’t know exactly how much it was. The fee was included in the bill that I paid after the treatment that day. And before I left the dentist, the receptionist gave me a patient identification card which I was told to bring with me whenever I visit the dentist afterwards.
When I was called into one of the examination room, I felt a bit nervous.
There were about 8rooms and there was a dental chair in the center of the each room.
The dentist was male and he was the clinic director. He was a middle aged man, and the dental assistant was a beautiful young woman. Both were wearing a surgical mask. The assistant lady said there was some plaque collected on the surface of my teeth. She cleaned my teeth with a dental picking tool.
The doctor told me that I had to have my teeth X-rayed. The assistant lady took me to the X-ray room, seated me in the chair, set the X-ray film in my mouth, and then took an X-ray.
After the film was developed, my doctor said that one of the roots of my teeth was infected and I need to have it cleaned.
He also said that it would take some long time for me to get completely treated.
Actually, I had to see the dentist every week for about six months from that time on.
Fortunately, I didn't have to have my tooth extracted. Now the treatment is over, my teeth are in good condition.
By the way, I didn't know that a wisdom tooth in the upper jaw usually has only one root, that the one in the lower jaw usually has two roots, and that the upper one is easier to extract.
When I was young, I had my wisdom teeth extracted. The dentist anesthetized the local area of my bad tooth. I felt a little pain at first, but it was bearable.